Top 10 Worst Episodes of King of the Hill
I did one for Family Guy that turned out to be very inaccurate and very outdated, and in the future I'll probably do one for the Simpsons. But today, I want to talk about my Top 10 least favorite episodes of King of the Hill, the other of the three big adult cartoons. I'm also disqualifying both Lupe's Revenge and Uh-Oh Canada because I already reviewed them. And yes, at some point in the future I'm going to do a Top 10 episodes of all three of them. King of the Hill is different than The Simpsons or Family Guy, and I don't think that anyone would dispute that. It definitely shows in their good and bad episodes too. An episode of Family Guy tends to be bad when it preaches about something it doesn't know anything about. When an episode of The Simpsons fails it's usually because the story is shit. How an episode of King of the Hill fairs all relies on the characters. The show almost always sides with the Hills, especially Peggy, and especially Hank. When it works, it really works. When it doesn't, like with Uh-Oh Canada it gets very... aggravating. Almost with every episode in my list, protagonist-centered morality is the problem. The down-to-earth tone of the show also ends up shooting episodes like Lupe's Revenge ''in the foot. There are many episodes that ''could work in The Simpsons or Family Guy, but (for the most part) King of the Hill tries to create a show that could happen in some semblance of reality, which pushes forward all kinds of disturbing implications. That being said, it's also one of the show's greatest strengths too. On with the list. Number 10: Church Hopping So, in this episode, the Hills get to a public church late and find another family in their seats. They feel entitled to these seats, and get indignant with everyone. Because they're very shallow they go looking for other churches until eventually the preacher gives in and says that the seat is theirs and the episode ends with the Hills smugly sitting in it. Wasn't church about like... religion, and don't most religions tell you not to be selfish or something? Like, this episode gives you no reason to root for the Hills. Compare this episode to something like Hilloween where Hank had a legitimate point, and something larger than... a seat was at stake. It's not only protagonist-centered morality, it's a very shallow protagonist. Number 9: The Petriot Act So, this episode is about Hank taking care of a cat for a soldier. This cat keeps costing them money they could be using on their vacation, and it just keeps going with Hank refusing to give up his pride. Honestly, if you could consider any episode of this show a "torture porn" this would probably be it. Hank gets this cat through a program that allows you to take care of soldier's pets, and he assumes that he's getting a dog; not a cat. He does this pretty selfishly and almost for no reason (which isn't really addressed). It's a weak premise on top of that. I mean, what if someone entering this program was allergic to cats or something like that? A program like this would probably allow you to prefer which types of pets you're ready or able to accommodate. I mean not everyone who could care for a cat could care for a dog, or vice-versa. Number 8: Husky Bobby '''So in this episode, Bobby gets a modeling job for plus-sized clothes. Hank doesn't like it. Hank stops him, and manages to do so in time because shortly after all the other plus-sized models get bullied vigorously. Remember kids, if there's something other people would bully you for, your parent is totally right to stop you from doing it. Also, the bullies in this episode aren't demonized for bullying either. This isn't their worst take on bullying though (and I'll get to that later) I have a lot of problems with the message of this episode. Namely that by telling someone that they could or would be bullied for doing or being something, it also gives the message that it's something worth bullying someone else over, and that leads to a lot of problems. I'm gonna do a review on most of these at some point, and I will get deeper into the discussion of this when I get around to reviewing this episode in particular. There isn't much "bad" about the rest of the episode, so... '''Number 7: Just Another Manic-Kahn Day This episode is kinda disgusting. In it, Hank learns that Kahn has manic depression (now called bipolar disorder). I... don't think they understand how the disorder works, but that's besides the point. When Kahn is off his medication he can either be manic for a little bit of time or depressive for a little bit of time and it's pretty much random. And they're working together on a propane robot. And with Kahn being so manic and getting a lot of things done, Hank keeps convincing Kahn to stay off of his medication. I'd say that a depressive state is dangerous due to suicide, but a manic state is not safe either. For example, Van Gogh chopped off a piece of his ear during a manic state. The manic state is often what convinces bipolar patients to go off their medication and that leads to serious problems. It should not be glamorized like it is in this episode. Number 6: Edumacting Lucky RowdyC of TV Trash did a pretty good review of this episode. In it, Lucky wants to get his GED, which is an admirable goal in any situation. There is no situation in which getting a GED is a bad thing. He asks Peggy for help, who thinks that there is a bad reason to get a GED. Lucky wants to get his GED so he finds himself honorable enough to ask for Luanne's hand in marriage. When Peggy learns this, she tries to sabotage Lucky. Then Peggy finds out that Luanne's pregnant with Lucky's child... and this is supposed to be... karma or something? If there's something I hated about this show, and Peggy in particular, it was their treatment of Luanne. They essentially kept her trapped in la la land, shielding her from the world, and preventing her from growing. That's why Luanne acts like an idiot in the show. The Hills were too afraid to let Luanne be her own person and make her own mistakes... while Peggy was making worse mistakes than Luanne would ever make on her own. I get that they're around Bill all the time, who wasn't able to handle the world in many respects. But they're also around Dale (and Peggy knows the truth at this point), and they can see how the world essentially took advantage of his blindness to it. Number 5: Now Who's the Dummy? So this entire episode is Hank thinking that a ventriloquist dummy is a better son than Bobby because the dummy is more interested in things like sports. It doesn't end with Hank learning a lesson or anything. It just ends with Dale blowing it up because he's afraid of the thing. Hank's behavior in this episode is some of the most disgusting that I've ever seen. It's understandable for him to be happier when Bobby engages in more typical/stereotypical boyish behavior. That's Hank's character. It's not understandable for him to be so flanderized that he thinks that a dummy is better than his son, as a son. Number 4: Goodbye Normal Jeans And this is one of Peggy's worst appearances. When Bobby takes up Home Ec, the twist is that it isn't Hank who goes crazy, it's Peggy. Let me put this in perspective. Peggy Hill, a grown woman, becomes jealous of her own son, who is like twelve or thirteen. She becomes shallow and ends up trying to sabotage her son's turkey dinner because she thinks the only reason Hank married her was to cook and clean because she thinks that Hank is shallow too. I know that Peggy has... issues, but... this is a little unbelievable. To her credit, the episode goes out of its way to torture her some, but it's one of those Simpsons-could-do-it plots. Number 3: Hank's Choice Here's the other Simpsons-''could-do-it plot. I've talked about this one before. Bobby comes down with a dog allergy and since Ladybird won't sleep in her dog house the only logical option to make Bobby live in the dog house. There's a lot to talk about with this one, but it's best saved for an actual review. I mean for the love of god, they try to make us feel bad that the neighborhood is making fun of the Hills for making their son sleep in a dog house. It's ''their problem that Bobby "needs" to sleep in the doghouse. Number 2: What Makes Bobby Run You ever read that short story, The Lottery? Well, this episode is written as if the stoning in The Lottery was a good thing. In this episode, Bobby becomes a mascot. When his team wins, they all beat up the mascot. Bobby doesn't want to get beaten up. And he's portrayed as the bad guy for this. What. The. Fuck? The entire school bullies him because he didn't want to get beaten up. But tradition is always good, mmmkay? This will be a fun one to review, I tell you what. Number 1: Bobby Goes Nuts If there's a King of the Hill episode that makes me angry, it's this one. Ignoring the fact that most of the humor in this episode comes from people being kicked in the crotch, this episode has... so many problems. Bobby gets bullied, so Hank tries to get him in a self-defense class. Since the boxing class is full, Bobby gets entered in a woman's self-defense class. Here he learns the self-defense technique of kicking people in the crotch. So let's talk about the first few problems. For some reason... Hank assumed that bullies would fight with the honorable methods of boxing or martial arts? No. Bullies will kick below the belt. They'll fight dirty (like forcing Bobby to eat dirt). They'll even use weapons. Unfortunately fighting below the belt is only a problem when Bobby, the victim is doing it. This is a major problem with the episode. In the real world, when you're fighting against bullies and such, there's no such thing as "a fair fight." I mean bullies don't challenge you to a fencing competition or something like that. They kick your ass wherever they want to. They give a huge diatribe about "fighting honorably," which is kind of an oxymoron. If there was any honor in any of the situations Bobby finds himself in, there would be no fighting. So, the principal takes everyone else's side instead of Bobby, who largely has been using the technique in self-defense (although he straddles the line later on), and two things happen. Hank is happy that Bobby is winning fights at first. This is why we have bullies people. Then Hank is horrified when Bobby is using crotch-kicking. So, here's the standard Bobby is in. If he loses a fight, it's dishonorable. If he wins a fight in the only way he can, it's dishonorable. We get a scene where Hank tries to teach Bobby some boxing moves... and he goes against Bobby like he's a grown boxer. And he seems surprised when Bobby kicks him in the crotch. And the episode sides with Hank time and again. He's a good parent. He was doing what was right. His son is being disrespectful for being angry that he was put in an impossible position. Then in the end, Peggy tries to fight Bobby. He kicks her in the crotch, but she doesn't even flinch... because she's apparently wearing some kind of iron plating there. Look, it won't hurt as much as if a man gets hit there, but if Bobby was kicking hard enough to cause Hank to be bedridden, it would have hurt Peggy too. And the episode ends with Hank and Peggy triumphant that.... what was the point in this episode? Fighting off bullies who are bigger and stronger than you? Look, if bullies only fought in fair fights there would be no bullies. This whole episode is just aggravating. It wants you to side with Hank and against Bobby, but it starts with him being bullied. And it essentially has Hank himself bullying Bobby at certain parts. It's... confused to say the least. Category:Miscellaneous